The Environment Agency has released its annual report on the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies.
Whilst there were improvements in 2020, according to the Environment Agency, no single company achieved all the expectations for the period 2015 to 2020.
These included the reduction of total pollution incidents by at least one-third compared with 2012 and for incident self-reporting to be at least 75%.
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow commented on the announcement: “Water companies have environmental responsibilities and they must realise them. They have a legal duty to avoid pollution to our rivers and other waterways.
“This report which spans the last 12 months makes for extremely disappointing reading. Even the industry-leading water companies have more work to do, especially on the use of storm overflows.
“Getting the basics right is critical for water companies and then they need to go further in playing their part in achieving a higher level of ambition for our precious water environment.
“On these grounds I will not hesitate to set higher expectations for both water companies and regulators to ensure a level of service that the people of this country and the environment deserve.”
According to the Environment Agency, the sector coped well with COVID-19 pressures in 2020 and recently committed over £850m to help contribute to a green recovery from the pandemic.
However, a number of companies are still reported to be failing to live up to their responsibilities to regulators, their customers and the environment.
Since 2011 the Environment Agency has used the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), which rates each company in England from 1 star to 4 star, for performance on environmental commitments such as pollution incidents and treatment work compliance.
Where these commitments are not achieved, companies will face underperformance penalties, with water regulator Ofwat having new powers to levy fines from 2020.
The report shows:
- Southern Water and South West Water were rated as 2 star (requiring improvement)
- Anglian Water and Thames Water were rated as 3 star (good)
- Five companies (Northumbrian Water, Severn Trent Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water) achieved 4 stars, although certain improvements are still required
- 2015-2020 expectations, including full compliance for waste water discharge permits and a 50% reduction in serious pollution incidents compared with 2012, have not been met
- Severn Trent Water, United Utilities and Wessex Water sustained the highest level of performance for most of the last five years
Serious pollution incidents declined for the second year in a row to ‘the lowest number ever’.
However, while there were 285 fewer total pollution incidents than in 2019, it was still the second highest number of total incidents since 2015.
Southern Water and South West Water both performed significantly below target for this metric, Southern Water for the second year in a row and South West Water for the tenth year in the row.
According to the Environment Agency, both companies’ performances have been ‘consistently unacceptable’. Over half of serious incidents were also due to Anglian Water and Thames Water.
The results come the week after Southern Water was sentenced to pay a record-breaking £90m fine after pleading guilty in court to 6971 unpermitted pollution discharges.
Earlier this year Thames Water was also fined £4 million and £2.3 million for separate pollution incidents.
In light of the annual report results, Environment Agency Chair Emma Howard Boyd has already met all water company chairs, while Environment Secretary George Eustice and Environment Minister Rebecca Pow will be meeting Southern Water and South West Water respectively in the coming months.
Following enforcement action taken by Ofwat on Southern Water in 2018, the company has a package of undertakings to deliver, including steps to improve investment and performance at its wastewater treatment works and to increase transparency for customers about its environmental performance.
And as a result of South West Water’s ‘consistent poor performance’ on the Environmental Performance Assessment, the company has a bespoke performance commitment with Ofwat to ensure they are aiming to achieve and maintain 4-star status from 2023-2025.
‘Water and sewerage companies in England: environmental performance for 2020’-report is available on the UK Government website.
